A tastefully swinging straightahead affair from drummer Reggie Quinerly whose credits include sideman work with Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Wynton Marsalis, and Greg Osby.

Three years on from his debut the album’s title borrows from a nineteenth century poem by Englishman William Ernest Henley.

The Houston-born player – a former classmate of Robert Glasper’s at the city’s High School for Performing and Visual Arts and holder of an MA in jazz studies from Julliard  – is joined by leading vibist Warren Wolf; Christian McBride trio pianist Christian Sands; Monty Alexander guitarist Yotam Silberstein; and another Houston Performing and Visual Arts alumnus bassist Alan Hampton who has produced the album alongside the drummer and who completes this acoustic quintet.

Comprised mostly of well-judged originals – the standard slipped in is ‘My Blue Heaven’ first recorded by Paul Whiteman in the 1920s – Invictus opens with ‘Tavares,’ dedicated to Horace Silver who died only a few months before this album was recorded in Brooklyn. Highly cultured and nuanced (Quinerly’s style reminds me of Clarence Penn a little), although maybe a touch too samey overall, there’s plenty of style, musicianship, and substance here: Quinerly a name we’ll be hearing a lot more of in the future with any luck. SG

Released on 17 March